PageWell for VS Code

Share the file you are editing as a link, and preview Markdown and HTML the way PageWell renders them. No account needed to start.

Three places, one job each

The PageWell bar in the Activity Bar turns the current file into a link, and lists every link made from this workspace with what is left of its life.
The preview opens beside the file and leaves it open — the same model as VS Code's own Markdown preview. It only reads.
One status-bar item says whether the file in front of you already has a link. Click it to copy that link.

Sharing never needs the preview: open the bar and press the button. The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+U (Cmd+Alt+U on macOS) opens the bar with the focus already on it — nothing leaves your machine until you press it.

The preview is the published page

The preview runs the same renderer as pagewell.ai, compiled to WebAssembly and packaged inside the extension, with the same stylesheet. Headings, tables, code highlighting, Mermaid diagrams and KaTeX formulas look here exactly as they will for a reader. Typing re-renders in place and keeps your scroll position.

HTML files are shown as-is inside a sandboxed frame — their own styling, no scripts.

Anonymous and signed-in states of the PageWell bar

Anonymous — no account, no sign-up. Up to 1 MiB per file, 5 new links per IP each UTC day, and the link is removed 24 hours after its last update.

Signed in — files are saved to your Documents on PageWell, up to 5 MiB, and kept until you delete them. Signing in goes through PageWell's device approval flow: the extension shows a short code, you approve it in your browser. It never asks for a password.

Your account and its sign-out live in VS Code's own Accounts menu, next to your other sign-ins.

Update a link instead of making a new one

Share a file once and the extension remembers where it went. Press Update link with this file and the same address serves the new content — anyone who already has the link sees the new version without being sent a new one.

Privacy

The file is read and uploaded only when you press Share or Update. Nothing is watched, scanned or sent in the background. What goes up is the source — your Markdown or HTML as written, not a rendered snapshot — because the server renders it with the same renderer you just previewed with.

Sign-in tokens are kept in VS Code's SecretStorage. The link for each file, and the one-time token that lets an anonymous link be updated, are kept in workspace state on this machine.

Commands

Command	What it does
Open Preview with PageWell	Opens the preview beside the file
Share as Link with PageWell…	Opens the bar with the focus on the primary button
Update Shared Link	Same address, new content
Copy Link / Open Link in Browser	For a file you already shared
Open in PageWell	Manage the document on the website
Sign In / Sign Out	Device-code sign-in; signing out only clears this machine

Right-click a .md or .html file in the editor or the Explorer for the first two.

Settings

Setting	Default
`pagewell.endpoint`	`https://pagewell.ai` — change it when self-hosting or debugging locally

PageWell · Report an issue · Apache-2.0

PageWell